Books

The Novel of Nonel and Vovel
By Oreet Ashery and Larissa SansourCharta Art Books, £30

Art books tend to be glossy affairs, full of rich colour illustrations which attempt to replicate as far as possible the experience of seeing the works of art in the original. But what if, as in the case of Jerusalem-born artist Oreet Ashery, your practice is rooted in performance art? Surely DVDs are the only way to appreciate this kind of work.

Dissatisfaction is a peculiarly middle-class indulgence. A life that from the outside appears perfect — moderate success, sufficient income, a loving family — can from feel from within claustrophobic and merely adequate, plagued by thoughts of the successes unachieved, the ones that got away, and a nagging lack of purpose.

Gabriel Josipovici’s two new novellas — each barely over 130 pages and issued together under one, elegant cover — both deal with this quiet despair of the bourgeoisie.

It is more than a decade since the original version of Various Voices: 60 years of Prose, Poetry, Politics 1948-2008 (Faber, £14.99) — Harold Pinter’s writings, musings and meanderings — was published. Since that time, some major things have happened in the life of probably the greatest English-language playwright of the last century. For one, he became a Nobel laureate, so this book contains the full, remarkable Nobel lecture. For another, Pinter died.

Born in a sad corner of Ukraine in 1920, the writer Clarice Lispector’s infancy was haunted by civil war and pogrom. Poverty, flight and swindling by people-traffickers ended in re-plantation on the wild soil of northeastern Brazil. Her father made do in age-old Jewish fashion, as a peddler. Her mother, syphilitic from gang-rape before Clarice’s birth, died when the girl was nine, leaving her with a lifelong sense of absence and guilt.

Contrary to what is expected and desired, historically victimised nations are not more prudent or compassionate than others. Driven by trauma and a deep sense of injustice, they are more susceptible to extreme views and actions; their reaction to any kind of assault is more likely to be an overreaction. The history of Palestine-Israel could thus be viewed as a cycle of action and overreaction justified by extreme ideologies and political views. Moderation, especially on the weaker, Palestinian side, is a rare currency.

Disguise (Fourth Estate, £7.99) is Hugo Hamilton’s first novel since his prize-winning memoir, The Speckled People (2003). This was the book that made Hamilton’s name, one of the best accounts of childhood written for many years. It told the story of Hamilton’s childhood in post-war Ireland, the son of a nationalist Irish father, a monstrous figure who refused to let his children speak English.

Few would disagree with Giles MacDonogh’s assertion that 1938 was a year of “cataclysmal [sic] change” for Germany. At the beginning of the year, Hitler was in firm control but the army still wielded considerable independence, Germany lay within the borders laid down by the Treaty of Versailles, and its Jews, though barred from public life, retained their property and, in the author’s words, “continued to lead relatively normal lives” — a disputable assertion.

What would you do if you woke up after a fatal accident in the body of a machine? This is the premise of Robin Wasserman’s chilling SF thriller, Skinned (Simon and Schuster, £6.99). Beautiful, popular 16-year-old Lia will never age or feel pain. Unable to eat, listen to music or feel emotions, she is cut off from all the things teenagers most enjoy. A “mech” or living experiment, she’s rejected by her friends and boyfriend. Only other “mechs” offer her refuge.

Sitting in Meg Rosoff’s comfortable Highbury kitchen sipping coffee, enjoying the welcome summer sun through the open back door is a scene in stark contrast to the hardship depicted in Rosoff’s latest book, The Bride’s Farewell (Penguin, £10.99).
Set on 19th-century Salisbury Plain, the story features a young woman, Pell Ridley, who decides to leave home on the morning of her wedding day determined to find a different life; one away from sorrow and adversity. Taking her only possession — her horse, Jack — Pell’s journey is full of mystery and romance.